Honda, Hyundai, Toyota Tops in Fuel Efficiency

Honda has the most fuel-efficient U.S. fleet with an average of 23.6 mpg, followed by Hyundai and Toyota in second and third place, respectively, according to preliminary figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hyundai averaged 23.4 mpg and Toyota had 23.2 mpg — close on the heels of Honda. Volkswagen came in fourth with 22.3 mpg, while Nissan and BMW tied for fifth with an average of 21.6 mpg. Of those, only Toyota and Nissan offer both full-size pickups and SUVs.

Highlighting the gap that has plagued the Detroit Three’s gas-guzzler habit, the American automakers finished in the last three slots of the study. Ford averaged 20.5 mpg, GM had 19.9 mpg and Chrysler had just 18.7 mpg.

The official figures won’t be released until October or November of next year, but the final verdict seems to be an average of 21.1 mpg for all vehicles sold in the 2009 model year. This is a one-tenth improvement on 2008’s average and a 0.5 mpg improvement from 2007.

These EPA figures are based on real-world fuel-economy rankings and sales versus the EPA ratings on window stickers, which are based solely on the EPA’s testing methods.

Honda Leads in Fuel Efficiency (Detroit News)

Comments

The EPA has "real-world" mileage numbers? Can you elaborate on that? Because as described it seems like they have three tests running around: CAFE, Monroney, and now "real-world."

The big three are going to stay at the bottom of this list as long as they build huge, heavy duty trucks like the F-25o, F350, and F-450 (and their competitors from GM and Chrysler-Fiat). I know that some people inexplicably buy them just because, but most buyers actually need tow alot. Same for the European brands and their high performance versions. A friend of mine's '05 SL55 gets around 8 mpg in the city if it is driven like a sports car. The difference between those big trucks and AMG(m-b), M(bmw), R(jaguar), and S(audi) (and V too(Caddilac)) is that no one actually NEEDS them- we don't have an autobahn or autostrada here.

Broq

of course Honda and Hyundai are going to be first and second- Honda makes no V8's, and Hyundai only has their V8 in two models which are both pretty slow selling (at least in V8 version)

Lumping all the vehicles into one group isn't a fair evaluation.

How about grouping each manufacturers economy, compact, mid-size, SUV etc together then comparing?

How does the Cobalt compare to the Civic, the XLR to the SL55, the Fusion to the Accord?

What happens when you eliminate all trucks and SUVs from the grouping? Does BMW really rank that high?

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

It would have been better if vehicles were compared by category (small, mid size, etc.) and not by fleet. Automakers that have trucks in their fleet may have a disadvantage. However, it is interesting to note that even though Nissan and Toyota have full size SUVs, they still managed high MPGs.

"However, it is interesting to note that even though Nissan and Toyota have full size SUVs, they still managed high MPGs."

Not really, because it's a sales weighted average. People buy lots more trucks from the domestic manufacturers than Nissan or Toyota, which lowers the domestics' fleet average fuel economy.

I knew the Chevy commercials claiming they have better mpg's than Toyota or Honda were flat-out lies. Just another reason why I will never even consider a Government Motors product. At least they haven't lost the art of lying to the public.

Plus, both Nissan and Toyota have numerous models that get very good fuel economy that far outsell their gas guzzlers.

Corolla v. Sequoia is probably the best example for this.

JM,

To clarify your point: Honda does not make V8 for passenger vehicles. But they do make V8 for F1.

Brent,

Not standing up for GM, but almost all automakers do this. Do one of those feature comparisons on most automakers' websites and they misrepresent information soooo often it's not even funny, and they think no one's the wiser. They all lie.

I really like these asian cars because they are really fuel efficient. Aside from that, it is easy to drive and these days the economic recession is still felt. That is why people can save on gas by having fuel efficient cars like these.

The entire report can be seen here:

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/mpg/fetrends/420r09014.pdf

And on page 82, Table 32 lists an adjusted fleet economy adjusted for footprint; that is, how big the vehicles are. In other words, really small cars are weighted less than really big ones to adjust for vehicle size. And the overall fleet rank order results remain the same. If you don't look at trucks at all, the rankings pretty much hold except that Toyota goes to the top.

Just for the record, many GM vehicles are more fuel efficient than their Honda and Toyota counterparts. Once again, this is an article that does not compare apples to apples. Statistics can be deceiving if all the facts are not considered. Toyota for example, does make guzzing SUVs and trucks, but they sell very few of them so the CAFE can be skewed.

I'll state again that the footprint was adjusted for to account for size differences. Also, many (though not all) of the cars GM advertises as more efficient that the competing Toyota or Honda are special high fuel efficiency versions that don't sell in big numbers. The cars that most folks buy in fact do get worse mileage than the Japanese counterpart.

Derrick, the numbers on page 82 aren't adjusted for footprint. The fleet averages are merely listed by footprint, which is wheelbase times average track. The "Adjusted Composite MPG" is the EPA sticker mileage, which is obtained by applying adjustments to the laboratory measurements. See page ii, second paragraph.

The fact remains that fleet average comparisons have two comfounding problems. First, manufacturers offer vehicle ranges that don't match each other in size and type. This problem remains even if you break cars down into categories such as small, midsized and large because some small cars, for example, are smaller than others. Ford doesn't have a car that's as small as the Fit or Yaris, for example.

Second, the fleet average is sales weighted. The domestic manufacturers have a higher proportion of larger vehicles in their total sales. Ford's fleet average is lower than Toyota's partly because of the huge sales volume of F-series trucks. It's not fair to use the fact that people prefer the F150 over the Tundra by a huge margin against Ford in a fuel economy comparison.

Very well explained Naxos1, you explained it much better than I did. Thanks!

Hyundai's Tau V8 is one of the most fuel efficient in the world. Producing 375hp, it regularly achieves nearly 22 mpg and has done as well as 28 mpg!!. Wow.
Edmunds is doing a long-term test and you'll note the V8 Genesis regularly outperforms 6 cylinder and even some four cylinder engines. That's amazing.

I know that some people inexplicably buy them just because, but most buyers actually need tow alot. Same for the European brands and their high performance versions. Statistics can be deceiving if all the facts are not considered.

I know that some people inexplicably buy them just because, but most buyers actually need tow alot. Tau V8 is one of the most fuel efficient in the world. Producing 375hp

I know that some people inexplicably buy them just because, but most buyers actually need tow alot. Same for the European brands and their high performance versions.